PDX Bound

As some of you know, I bolted from the Bay Area, where I have been living, working, running, wining and dining for the past five years. Now it's time for a change: I'm pleased to announce that I will be heading back north to Portland, Oregon.

Source: TripAdvisor

It has been seven years since graduating from the University of Portland, and I am excited to return to rediscover this city and its surrounding areas. There are so many places I've missed and several more that I have yet to visit (read: OMSI), waterfalls to hike to (a trip to the Gorge is in order, pronto!), breweries to enjoy, restaurants to check out, and the list just keeps going. 

I can't wait to reunite with good friends, especially my bestieeee! We have so many more memories to make! 

October 2016 - Sam and I toured Widmer Brewery before we tackled the Portland Half Marathon the next day.

Now you may be wondering how this all came to be. So let's back track to February...

I accepted a position as a temporary Word Processor for NDPPS at KPMG, thanks to a referral from Caitlin. I was stoked to be doing something different, something not related to public relations. I formatted audit reports and letters and advanced my Microsoft Word skills (hello, macros). I also got a better understanding of what it meant to work with a team. Through constant communication, especially with remote colleagues, we supported each other through thick and thin. KPMG definitely left a good impression on me, but this was a temporary job. It was a bummer to leave, but on my last day, there was a spark of hope.

Source: KPMG

Juvella is part of the operations team and informed me that her team had a temporary position to fill in a few weeks. I jumped at the opportunity and came back after two weeks. Working on the operations team brought a new light to working for a company. They are essentially the backbone, making sure there are enough supplies, delivering the mail, assisting guests and employees alike with all their needs, setting up conference rooms, ordering catering, and much much more. It was definitely a more physically demanding job (I got my steps in though), and I'm grateful for the amazing group of colleagues I worked with. 

I still had access to my KPMG email and everything, so on a whim, I internally applied to the administrative assistant position in Portland. Little did I know that it would change my life over the span of a week. The day that I applied, I spoke with the recruiter who informed me that he sent my resume to the Portland team and they were interested in speaking with me. Over the next two days, I completed three interviews with the operations managers in Portland and Seattle as well as partner who would work closely with this assistant. Then Friday morning was the moment of truth: I got the job! 

Biggest take away here:

Don't underestimate temporary positions when you're in your job search. They are a great way to gather new skills and to try something new. Plus, you never know if it's going to be your big break. 

Well, I have a long list of things to do before moving, but look out Portland, I'm coming back! 

BLOG: Here I Go Again...

Thank you to Victoria Ngo for reminding me that I used to blog and that I need to get back to it! 

Let's see, my last blog is about resetting my blog with its new theme - Tassajarra Muses. Then nothing happened for a year and nine months. So here we are in September 2016 discussing how I will attempt to blog again! So many things have happened since I started this blog in 2010, so I plan to do a quick recap and then move forward to the present. 

In the words of Whitesnake, here I go again...

http://youtu.be/i3MXiTeH_Pg

BLOG: Tassajarra Muses

Source: http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2013/12/18/great-posts-on-interactive-writing-blogging/

It has been more than two years since I have posted on my blog (and yes, this is another blog post about blogging). I figured it was time to revamp this blog instead of starting over. I've done that a couple of times now and have been left with several deserted blogs.

So let's begin...

Introducing Tassajarra Muses

When I first started this blog, it was to document my post grad life, following my graduation from the University of Portland in May 2010. I wanted to create an easy way for family and friends to find out what I was up to after graduating. However, after about a year, I realize this blog was more than my post grad life journey and what I was doing professionally. As I started adding more personal content, it became a blog that allowed me to share other parts of my journey including my photo project, reviews for movies and books, changes in my hairstyle and more. 

As this progressed, I changed the title of my blog to follow my mantra for the year; for instance, in 2013, it was Optimizing Opportunities. However, I needed a title that was good for SEO as well as one that catered to all the ups and downs, year in and year out. And that's how I came up with Tassajarra Muses. 

It's my first name paired up with the word "muses." As a noun, a "muse" is a goddess who resides over the arts and sciences, while as a verb, "muse" is to be absorbed in thought. I felt that this describes me well in both senses. Firstly, I am well-rounded with interests and curiosities for several different things, topics, sports, music, activities, and so much more. It has its pros and cons because while I have all these interests, it makes it difficult to specialize in only one. Think of it as playing multiple video games and you're on level one on all of them instead of focusing on advancing in one particular game.  Secondly, I often get lost in my own thoughts or have to think decisions through all the way before deciding. With this blog, I plan to share some of those thoughts on different topics as I continue on this journey. 

I'm excited to start blogging again and hope you'll join me for this ride. :)